Apparatus for forming plates



W. J. TANGERMAN APPARATUS FOR FORMING PLATES July 7, 1942.

5 ShetsShee-t 1 Original Filed April 6, 1959 I l l o coo o o oo od.oeo A Inventor? lz'am J il''r grman A Jidy 7, 1942. w. J. 1"ANGER-MAINV 2,239,150

APPARATUS FOR FORMING PLATES [ori inal Filed April 6, v 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I inventor: Wz'ZZz'amJ 72m e1."man

July 7, 1942. Y w, J. TANGERMAN 2,289,150 I APPARATUS FOR FORMING PLATES Original'Filed April 6, 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventazfi- William J Engerma n Hitorn l the corner posts of the car.

Patented July 7, 1942 'UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE facturing Company, tion of Delaware 266,239, now Patent Chicago, 111., a corpora- Hammond, Ind., as-

Original application April 6, 1939, Serial N0.

No. 2,199,317, dated April 30, 1940., Divided and 11, 1940, Serial No. 323,243

(cuss-4s) 3 Claims.

The invention relates to corrugated walls for railway cars and more particularly to-the method and apparatus for manufacturing'such walls.

A common type of end wall for railway cars is a relatively thin metallic plate having pressed therein a plurality of substantially parallel corrugations which merge into said plate adjacent An end of this type has great strength when considered at a section through the corrugations. There is, however, a

region of substantially flat plate near the attachment of the end wall to a corner post and the weakness of this region is indicated by bulges therein when the end wall is subjected to excessive loads. End wall plates are usually provided with flanges on the vertical margins thereof for attachment to the corner posts of the car.

' It is an object of the invention to form the above mentioned flange on a curvature and carry the corrugations around the curvature. The flat region of the sheet is then disposed longitudinally 'of the car so that it is better positioned to resist impacts against the end wall. A preferred form of corner post for use with such an end has angularly disposed arms, one of which is attached to the flange and the other to the body part of the end wall. This forms a box type corner post in which the corrugations function as arches between the arms of the corner post.

Another object of the invention is to improvev the appearance of the car to which the end wall is applied. The corners appear curved and the corrugations extending around the corner present a streamlined appearance.

An end wall of the type described above is desirable in several respects but presents difliculties in the manufacture thereof. I have invented a method and apparatus to manufacture end walls of the type described which I will describe in detail hereinafter. The objects and advantages of my invention are:

The corrugations are not wrinkled. In a structure embodying arched corrugations-- there is a pronounced tendency for the inner, corrugations to wrinkle due to the difference in length between the inner and outer corrugations. I provide means to prevent such wrinkling.

Handling during manufacture is greatly facilitated. End plates are manufactured in large quantities, therefore, the presence of flanges of wide curvature would make it difficult to handle the plates due to the impossibility of piling them one on the other. In the method which I claim as my invention all shearing arid punching is done prior to flanging so that practically all the this application March handling is of substantially flat plates, thereby greatly eliminating the hazards ofhandling the flanged plates.

The flanges for attachment to the corner posts are maintained as formed by varying the radius of curvature of the flanges. This eliminates the necessity of forming the flange (i. e., shearing and punching the flange) after flanging with the consequent disadvantages numerated above.

The length of the end may be easily adjusted for adoption to various widths of cars. Such adjustment would be difllcult with complex die assemblies but the dies which I claim as my inventicn may be easily adjusted.

' Existing equipment may be utilized. The primary operation-may be performed on dies which are normally used for the manufacture of conventional end walls wherein the corrugations merge into the end wall plate in the plane of said ,wall. Furthermore, existing reciprocating presses can be used, the presses having been in use for the manufacture of the aforementioned conventional end walls.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following detailed description by referring to the accompanying drawmgs.

In the drawings:

Fig. l isggperspective view of a set of dies used to perform primary pressing operation.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a plate as pressed by the dies shown in Fig. 1. 3

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig'. 4 is a section to an enlarged scale on line '4-4 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the set of dies used to perform the, flnaljpressing operation.

Fig. 6 is a section, similar to Fig. 4,- showing the plate as pressed by the dies of Fig. 5.

Figs. 7 and 9 are sections on lines l- -l and 9- -9 respectively of Fig.4.

Figs. 8 and 10 are" sections on lines 8-8 and The male block 3 has secured thereto a plurality of substantially parallel raised members 6 and a plurality of minor members 1 positioned between the members 8. The members 6-! have end sections 9 which slope so as to merge into the block 3. The female block 4 is provided with recesses ID in one face thereof which substantially conform to the raised members 8-4 and are adapted to engage therewith.

The blocks 3--4 are secured to the lower and upper platens respectively of a reciprocating press, the blocks having substantially the relative positions shown in Fig. 1. A substantially flat, relatively thin metallic plate I5, ireferably heated to a red color, is placed between the blocks 3-4 and the blocks are pressed together by a large force. A force 'of two thousand tons is sometimes used for this purpose. After the blocks have been forced together as tightly as possible they are drawn apart and the plate I is removed.

Figs. 2 to 4 show the plate I5 as removed, the dotted lines IS in Fig. 2 showing the outline of the plate. The plate has pressed therein a. plurality of corrugations l8 having end sections 20 conforming to the members G-! and sections 9 of the block 3. The outline I6 is curved because some of the plate was drawn inwardly to form the corrugations I8 and end sections 20. The plate I5 is originally provided with enough area to leave margins 2| parallel to the corrugations l8 and marginal regions 22 adjacent and transverse to the sections 20. The edges of the plate I 5 are then formed to some predetermined configuration which, in the example illustrated, comprises shearing the straight edges 25 on the margins 2|, punching aligned holes 28 in the regions 22 and shearing the straight edges 28 on the regions 22. V

Fig. 5 shows the secondary Hie assembly 36 which performs the final, or flanging operation, upon the plate I 5. The assembly 36 comprises an interior piece 31 and an exterior piece 38. The interior piece 31 comprises spaced apart end portions 40 having exterior convex surfaces 4|. A plurality of spaced apart ridges 48 extend around the surfaces 4| and merge thereinto (45) toward the ends 41 of the interior piece 31. The exterior piece 38 comprises spaced apart end blocks 48 having concave surfaces 48 adapted to engage the convex surfaces 4!. The concave surfaces 49 are provided with grooves 5| substantially conforming to and adapted to engage the ridges 43.

The interior piece 3'! and the exterior piece 38 are attached to the upper and lower platens respectively of a reciprocating press which may be similar to the one used in conjunction with the primary die assembly 2. The plate i5 is placed on top of the exterior piece 38 with the opposite side uppermost from its position in the primary die assembly 2. The plate I5 is positioned so that the end sections 20 of the corrugations l8 are substantially aligned with the grooves 5| in the blocks 48. The interior (31) and exterior (38) pieces are then forced together by a large force and after they have forced as closely together as possible, they are drawn apart. The plate which is then removed represents the finished product, being shown in section in Fig. 6 and in perspective in Fig. 11.

The finished end wall plate 60 has flanges 8| joined to the plate 60 by a curvature G2 which comprises portions of the sections 20 carried therearound. Merely bending a corrugated plate on a curvature would wrinkle the corrugations disposed on the interior of the curvature. I provide means to eliminate this wrinkling, which means may be best understood by referring to Figs. 4, 6 to 10 and 12.

Fig. 12 shows by the broken lines 68 the position which would be taken by the outermost area 69 of Fig. 4 if it were practical to bend the plate in a simple bending operation. When a corrugated plate is bent transverse to the currugations, the neutral axis of the plate remains unchanged in length, the neutral axis being, in this case, substantially equidistant from the inner (7B) and outer (69) areas of the plate. If the neutral axis is to remain unchanged, the inner area 70 must decrease in length and the outer area 69 must increase in length. Since the increases and decreases involved are relatively great, deformation would occur in the wrinkling of the inner area 10 and the inward collapse of the outer area 69. To prevent said wrinkling and collapse, the peripheral area of the outwardly projecting sections 20 is increased, thereby drawing from the innermost plate 70 enough material to permit it to form a radius without wrinkling. The increase in peripheral area may be accomplished by increasing the length of the section 28, as indicated by the dotted lines 12 of Fig. 12, by increasing the depth of the sections 20, as indicated by the dotted lines 13 of Fig. 12, or by increasing the width of the sections 20 as shown in the comparison of Figs. 9 and 10. The preferable method is to increase length, depth and width of the sections 20, thereby drawing material from the inner areas 10 and redistributing it at the outer area 69.

Figs. '7 to 10 inclusive show the changes in the plate caused by flanging. Figs. 7 and 8, which show the contour of the plate before and after flanging respectively, are at the same section of plate; 1. e., the original section of mergence of the sections 20 into the plate IS. The corrugations 12 are formed by the extension of the section 20 during flanging. Figs. 9 and 10 show the contour of the plate l5 through the sections 20 before and after flanging respectively showing the increase in the height and width of the sections. This increase in length, height and width of the sections 20 increases the peripheral area thereof and utilizes material which normally lies between (19) the section 20 and would cause wrinkles during fianging if not drawn therefrom.

Increasing the length and depth of the. sections 20 as explained above not only draws material from the inner surface 10 but also from the flange 6|. This would distort the edge 28 which had been sheared straight prior to flang ing. The edge 28 would be bowed inwardly at the center opposite the sections 20 but not appreciably deformed opposite the margins 2 l. The row of holes 26 would assume a similar contour. To overcome this effect. the radius of curvature at the margins 2| is made smaller than the radius 86 adjacent the sections 20. The additional material required to form a curvature on the radius 85 should be approximately equal to that drawn from the flange Bl by the in crease in peripheral area of the sections 20 so that the shape of the edge 28 and holes remains substantially as originally formed. It is undesirable to punch the holes 26 and shear the edges 28 after flanging on account of the dimculty of handling.

I have shown and described the preferred form of the end wall plate as well as the preferred method and apparatus for manufacturing the same. It is obvious that other products can be concave surface, a plurality of ridges extending around said convex surfaceand merging into said last mentioned block, said ridges being spaced tured into Patent No. 2,199,377 on April 30, 1940.-

I claim:

1. A die assembly for flanging on a curvature a metallic plate having pressed therein a plurality of spaced apart corrugations having end sections which merge into said plate and for carrying portions of said sections at least partially around said curvature, said assembly comprising a block having a concave surface, a block having a convex surface adapted to engage said c oncave surface, a plurality of ridges extending apart substantially the distance between said,

corrugations, and a plurality of grooves in said concave surface adapted to engage said ridges including the merging parts thereof upon'engagement of said blocks, the contour. of said ridges conforming substantially to the contour of said sections at a point remote from the merging ends thereof and the curvilinear length of concave surface adapted to engage said ridges upon engagement of said blocks, the height of each ridge at one point thereof being substantially equal to the height of the: corresp nding section at a point remote from the mergence thereof into said plate and becoming gradually higher than said section toward said mergence.

2. A die assembly for flanging on a curvature a metallic plate having pressed therein a plurality of spaced apart corrugations having end sections which merge into said plate and for carrying portions of said sections at least partially around said curvature, said assembly comprising a block having a concave surface, a block having a convex surface adapted to engage said said ridgesfrom the point of conformity with said sections to the merging ends thereof being greater than the length of said sections from said point of conformity to the merging ends thereof.

3. A die assembly for flanging on a curvature a metallic plate having pressed therein a p'lu-- rality of spaced, apart corrugations having end sections which merge into said plate and for carrying portions of said sections at least par-- tially around said curvature, said assembly com-' prising a block having a concave surface, a block having a convex surface adapted to engage said concave surface, a plurality of ridges'extending around said convex surface and merging into said last mentioned block, said ridges being spaced apart substantially the distance between said corrugations, and a plurality of grooves in said concave surface adapted to engage said ridges upon engagement of said blocks, the contour of said ridges conforming substantially to the contour of said sections at a point remote from the mergence thereof into said plate and the periphery of said ridges becoming gradually greater than the periphery of said sections from the point ofconformity toward said merge-rice.-

WILLIAM J, TANGERMAN. 

